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Exhibition 'About Tools: Extending our reach'

We all use everyday tools. At work or at home. To measure, communicate, watch etc. The tools are extensions of ourselves, designed to enable us to overcome the limitations of our bodies.

They are not always complex tools involving high technology. Some are actually simple things we use every day. They save us time and make life easier, while others help to achieve remarkable feats. Some inventions change forever the way we do things, and many others have remained unchanged since the beginning of time.

The ax, for example, has persisted for more than 1.5 million years. Digital equivalent of today, the iPhone, with its many functions, continues to expand its capabilities without its physical appearance being profoundly modified.

This exhibition offers 175 tools from the Cooper Hewitt and nine other collections.